Investment News

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) The South Korean food industry's sales grew 2.3 percent in 2018 from a year ago to exceed the 90 trillion-won (US$80.2 billion) mark for the first time, a report showed Thursday.

Total shipments of the nation's food products, groceries and beverages came to an estimated 91.3 trillion won last year, up 2 trillion won from 2017, according to the report from the Korea Rural Economic Institute.

The food industry's sales topped the 90 trillion-won mark three years after entering the 80 trillion-won range.

Last year's growth was led by grain processing firms (8.8 percent) and makers of feed and manufactured food products (7.2 percent).

In the first nine months of last year, South Korea's food exports stood at slightly over $5.4 billion, similar to the level in 2017.